Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey

Dr. Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey is a Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Georgia State University and the Co-Director of the Center for the Advancement of Students and Alumni (CASA). Her research interests include Hip-Hop culture, popular culture, political behavior, political attitudes, African-American politics, Black women and Politics, political psychology and public opinion.

She is the author of Pulse of the People: Political Rap Music and Black Politics (2015). She also published Black Popular Culture and Social Justice:  Beyond the Culture (Routledge Press 2023) with Dr. Jonathan Gayles and For the Culture:  Hip-Hop and Social Justice (University of Michigan Press, 2022) with Dr. Adolphus Belk, Jr.

Biography

Lakeyta Bonnette-Bailey, born Lakeyta Monique Bonnette, received her B.A. at Winthrop University and her Ph.D. from Ohio State University, where she studied the role of rap music in African-American politics.

Her monograph Pulse of the People: Political Rap Music and Black Politics was published by U of Pennsylvania P in 2015. The book investigates the influence of rap music on political views and attitudes among African Americans, paying particular attention to political hip hop. In 2019, she presented a TedX talk entitled “The Political Impact of Rap Music.”